


Saw You in a Dream

by aureate



Series: Flaw in the System [2]
Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Non-Famous, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, M/M, TOUCH universe, chatbot au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-04-14
Packaged: 2020-01-13 07:15:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18464077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aureate/pseuds/aureate
Summary: Seungcheol pushes through Project X, where he combines AI and human qualities to make a better virtual boyfriend service for his customers. Except that he somehow is chosen to be their firstHost, and has to balance it with his main job; the CEO of TOUCH.





	Saw You in a Dream

**Author's Note:**

> this is a counterpart of '[flaw in the system](https://twitter.com/cheolhuns/status/1018075016548642817)', written in seungcheol's point of view. 
> 
> i advise you to read it first because i'm skipping some chapters in this!
> 
> title is from the japanese house's song of the same title; [saw you in a dream](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxZDxF0MyV0).  
> it is also the soundtrack of the story! :)

 

 

**(01)  
** [►](https://twitter.com/cheolhuns/status/1018116197408129024)

 

Seungcheol drags his legs down the long corridor that leads to his office room, thumb pressing onto his temple in attempt to minimalize the throbbing he had since the morning and had to endure during the meeting with a new potential investor from an uprising technology company. Their latest tech would help a lot with TOUCH, Jeonghan reasoned when Seungcheol frowned upon hearing the arrangement. Of course, it would be him that should meet them later, not the COO. It was not that bad, but Seungcheol is still not sure if it’s going to be a profitable agreement or not. He ended up requiring more samples from the company to be presented to him next week.

He opens the door and slams it back, not bothering to lock it, and walks over to the comfortable sofa sitting near the curtain wall. _Finally_ , he thinks after he throws his body into the sofa, letting himself sinking into the comfortable material, closing his eyes. It was a good decision to pester Joshua to buy a sofa bed for his room when they first rented the space, because this room might as well be a permanent residence to him.

Seungcheol is not a workaholic, no. He plays mobile games in between his working hours and sings loudly to Youtube karaoke videos when he feels like he wants to. It’s just that once he sets himself a goal, it’s unlikely for him to give up midway or just to take rest even a little bit. Usually that means overstaying at the office, and that explains why his personal working space comes with a bathroom unit filled with toiletries slightly more than he has in his home.

Sighing, he rolls to the side, attempting to get some sleep he deserves after pulling an all-nighter learning a new trend in coding he was sent by some friends in Japan. Of course, though, that wouldn’t happen. 

The door of his room opens with a loud bang, and without having to see who is coming, Seungcheol knows. He groans.

“Go away, Hannie,” he mumbles, burying his face deeper onto the sofa’s soft surface.

Jeonghan ignores him, and makes a move to sit down on the free space of the sofa. “How was the meeting?” He asks.

Seungcheol grumbles, deciding to sit up. He looks at his friend in annoyance with a glare that he hopes could be interpreted with ‘can you stop fucking my resting time?’ and points at the manila folder sitting on the low table. “I gave them more time to convince me. Still can’t see why you said that we need to push through with them…”

The blond haired man takes the manila folder and checks the files inside. “I told you it would be a good investment. They don’t have a lot in their portfolio but their research would be good for us to step up into a bigger game.” He places the folder back on the table and turns to see the sulky head of the company. “Did you check your e-mail? 

“No.” There is no point lying to the blonde, anyway. “I barely checked my phone since this morning…”

Jeonghan frowns upon hearing this, “You didn’t get any sleep, did you?” He asks in an accusing tone that makes Seungcheol groans in regret. “This is why you still don’t date, Seungcheol. You need the beauty sleep to make your aura glow and attract beautiful women and handsome men to you.”

“Oh, shut up. You have no say on my love life when Shua still puts up a sex ban on you.”

“It was lifted up yesterday, actually. That’s why I gained a lot of my beauty last night.” He adds a wink, and Seungcheol stuffs a cushion into his face.

“Nice to know,” he grunts. “So whatever you’re here for?”

“Aside of visiting my best friend whose life is in the verge of crumbling down?” Jeonghan teases, earning a quick middle finger flash from the slightly older man he easily bats away. “I sent you an e-mail this morning. We got a customer for the Project X.”

This has Seungcheol’s full attention on the other, eyes wide in surprise. “Really? Didn’t we just launch that yesterday?”

“Yup. Got an order last night, and we’re launching the bot today. Anyway that’s not what I’m really for.” Jeonghan pulls out his tablet, touching the icon that leads to his mailbox and scrolls for the e-mail he sent the other man this morning. He opens the mail, and hands over the tablet to the still confused looking man. “Congratulations, you are our first _Host_.”

“What?” 

Jeonghan leans back in to the sofa, grinning slightly, watching how Seungcheol’s face turns serious as his eyes scan over the information given in the mail. It’s not much, just a summary of who he is and what he is looking for, but after running a dating company for more than five years, Jeonghan knows what he is doing. “His requirement fits you, and I have a feeling you will like him as well.”

Seungcheol’s eyes flick up to meet Jeonghan’s briefly before they’re back down reading the words on the tablet’s screen. “I’m just going to guide the bot, though?” He mutters, his attention somewhat drawn to the two words written in the Preferences column: _bright personality_. Seungcheol is normally a bright person, that’s how he managed to gain a lot of investors and working partners anyway, but sometimes he isn’t, because he is a normal human, and he wonders if the person requesting the bot would ever think of something like that. Probably not, since it’s bots they are offering and not humans. Except now it’s supposed to be a humanely bot.

“Yes!” Jeonghan answers brightly, hands clasped together to appeal himself more. “The bot is already running anyway, but you still need to sync with the Muse at least once a day, to keep it natural.”

“Hmm.” Seungcheol responds shortly, still repeating the words written in the mail over and over again like a mantra. “Can’t you find someone else in the office for this, though? Our Project X team?” He thinks of upcoming sleepless days because of the syncing process and his whole body shudders.

Jeonghan places a hand on the other’s shoulder, giving it a squeeze, “You’re our best option, Seungcheol. This is our first customer, and imagine if they get an inexperienced Host who will screw this up. We can trust you.”

Seungcheol nibbles on his lower lip, contemplating. His best friend sure knows how to press the right buttons to make him say yes, and honestly, he can never say no to those words. He just loves taking responsibilities. “Alright.”

“Great. I’ll remind you to sync tonight after dinner.” Jeonghan says, giving a pat to the other’s thigh before standing up. “Get some sleep for now, Shua will come to get you for lunch. I have a meeting outside for today.”

Seungcheol nods, already leaning down his head on the couch’s back. “Thanks, Hannie.”

 

  

**(02)**

 

“So, how is the Project X going?”  

Seungcheol pauses sipping on his cold Americano, shrugging a little bit before taking more gulps of it. He places the plastic cup next to the plate of tuna sandwich he ordered because he hasn’t eaten breakfast yet, looking up at the doe-eyed man sitting across him. Joshua’s hair is dark brown after him having it blond to match Jeonghan’s for a good whole of six months. They thought it was a good idea to leave people at the company confused because of their similar hair color, including the CEO himself.

“Good, I guess?” He takes his fork and knife to slice the sandwich and grabs a bite. “A flower delivery was already done last week.”

“Oh?” Joshua leans forward, resting his chin on his palms. He is very interested in the project ever since Seungcheol presented his idea about it two years ago, immediately showing his full support by coming up with financial planning for the sole project. “Did he like it?”

Humming lowly, Seungcheol thinks of the pleasant, fuzzy feelings transferred into his head when he synced with the device last night. “Yeah, definitely liked it.” He grins. “The new florist is good, we should extend our partnership with them next year.”

“Which florist?” Jeonghan’s voice joins in. Seungcheol has to turn his neck around to see the Head Operations of the company walking closer to their table in the cafe in his formal attire—grey suits and neat wine red tie, a contrast with Seungcheol’s and Joshua’s casual shirt ones. He has just come back from an important meeting with a potential tech company partner that requires such dress code, Seungcheol pities him, knowing the suits could be stuffy sometimes. He sits on the empty chair, placing his briefcase on the floor before he takes Joshua’s cup and easily drinks up the coffee. Seungcheol winces. 

“The one I told you guys we have started partnering with the beginning of this year,” Joshua explains, though frowning upon seeing his coffee cup being emptied. “Buy me more coffee, Hannie,” he complains.

Jeonghan sighs, leaning his back against the chair and starts loosening up his tie and undoes the first two buttons of his crisp white t-shirt. “Later. I need to catch my breath.”

Seungcheol chuckles, sneakily picking up his own coffee cup and pretending to drink before placing it far from the other’s reach. “That bad?”

“I just…” Jeonghan pinches his nose bridge, squeezing his eyes close. He looks a lot stressed. “I hate meetings with old people.”

“Understandable,” Joshua says, reaching out to give his hand a brief squeeze that goes not unnoticed by Seungcheol’s eyes. He knows something is going on between his two best friends, but he never presses on it. “Buy me coffee and we can talk about that,” he continues firmly.

It’s not even a surprise to Seungcheol anymore when Jeonghan lets out a brief sigh and then gets up from his chair to make a bee-line towards the cashier. It is solely Joshua Hong’s effect, no one, even himself, could make the blonde do that. 

“You’re amazing, Shua,” he tells him truthfully as Joshua pouts, mourning over his lost caffe latte. 

He looks up at Seungcheol’s words, raising an eyebrow in confusion. He glances at Jeonghan who seems to be paying with his card at the cashier, and back at the brownie plate in front of him, sighing. “You just have to know where to press him.”

“And that’s why I can never win against you guys.” Seungcheol chuckles, admitting the hierarchy within their friendship. Even though he is the one with the highest rank within their company, in their friendship he relies a lot on the other two, and often getting bullied. 

Jeonghan is back with a cup of cold americano and another caffe latte which he immediately places in front of the doe-eyed man, who is smiling really brightly it’s almost blinding. “So, what were you guys talking about?” He asks after a long sip of the americano that had him sighing in content.

“I was asking Seungcheol about the Project X,” answers Joshua. 

“Oh, that’s right.” Jeonghan turns to the CEO with interest. “How does the _Muse_ feel?”  

Seungcheol blinks, suddenly feeling a bit overwhelmed now the attention is back on him again. “It was… weird, at first. When I synced the first night, I didn’t expect to be met with the picture of the…” He struggles, trying to find a good word, “the client.”

Jeonghan whistles lowly, earning a chuckle and a light shove on his shoulder from Joshua, and flashes a grin. “How does he look like?”

“Well…” Seungcheol straightens up his pose, remembering the picture Lee Jihoon sent into their database—the pair of cute eyes, styled up dark hair, the small mole under his eyes… “He’s not bad looking,” he finally says after contemplating.

“Cute as hell, it is,” Joshua chips in, and then proceeds to laugh, causing Seungcheol’s face to boil red in embarrassment.

“I never said that!” He says loudly, finger pointing at the dark browned hair man in accusation. “Why are you always twisting my words?” He whines, knowing completely once Jeonghan joins his devil partner, it would be the end of his life.

Jeonghan snickers, swirling his iced americano rather too calmly and it scares Seungcheol. “Definitely a cutie.”

“Wow you guys are never at my side,” he complains, pouting slightly. “I’m just saying he’s not bad looking, that’s all!”

“Knowing your high standards, Seungcheollie,” Jeonghan is using the nickname and Seungcheol wonders if he really could die from embarrassment. “Not bad looking means Mr. Lee Jihoon is a pretty cute guy whom you don’t mind dating.”

Seungcheol’s eyebrows raise in confusion, “How did you know his name?”

Jeonghan rolls his eyes, and Joshua laughs even harder, “He is the one to organize the files, remember?” The dark browned hair man reminds him.

And now the oldest of the three has to live with the fact that his best friends might think he’s jealous over a client, while he isn’t, really. Lee Jihoon sure is cute by his standards, but a client is a client, and he is just someone to help his experience with the bot better.

“Anyway,” he says out loud, trying to drown the other two’s laughs which starting to get too loud for a public place, “the Muse works great. It sends me information of the client clearly, what he likes and what he doesn’t like, and in return I can give responses to some of his previous chats so the bot could answer better in the future.”

“Let me ask one thing, though.” Joshua places his chin on his palm, leaning forward as he is getting interested. “Does it feel like you’re on a sex hotline?”

“W-what?” Seungcheol splutters at the unexpected question, arms flailing around as Jeonghan looks like he is about to die of laughter, gripping tight on Joshua’s shirt to save him from falling over. “What even is that question!!!” He protests, eyes sneaking around to see if there are people who are listening to this conversation. 

Joshua calmly smiles, “I’m just curious.”

Jeonghan’s laugh even doubles and in a split moment he really is about to fall from his chair that the staff cleaning the table near to theirs look concerned, but Joshua is quick to grab him and safe him from embarrassing their group further. “I can’t breath,” Jeonghan says after he gets his senses back, wiping up the tears that fell out because of the laughter.

“Of course not!!!” Seungcheol panics, hoping the said staff didn’t hear what Joshua asked of him. “I can’t interact directly with the client, remember? I just give feedbacks to what the bot relays to me… I merely guide him and nothing more. Our bots are already intelligent by themselves.”

Jeonghan croons at the indirect praise to his hard work, but Joshua ignores it. “But you still receive the images of the client through the bot’s point of view, right?”

“Kind of? It comes with the feedbacks. I get to know what he is saying and his reaction to the bot’s answers so I can improve them.” Seungcheol frowns in suspicion. “Why are you asking?”

“Nothing.” Joshua’s smile is sweet, yet at the same time feels dangerous, and Seungcheol doesn’t like the bad vibe the other is giving off. “Just be careful, Seungcheol. You might be the one who ends up getting hurt.”

“Huh? I don’t understand—“

“It’s okay. Seungcheol can handle this, Shua,” Jeonghan cuts in. 

Joshua shrugs, still smiling so sweetly, “If you say so.” And Seungcheol would be lying if he says those words wouldn’t be haunting him.

 

  

**(03)  
** [►](https://twitter.com/cheolhuns/status/1023587744172335105)

 

After spending five consecutive nights staying over at the office, huddled over his desk for some midnight teleconference and research, Jeonghan finally starts to notice how Seungcheol's clothes don't really change and finds out how he hasn’t come home since Tuesday, and the CEO is getting kicked out of his own office on a Saturday night—which is not a working day, by the way, but he still works anyway. 

“Go get some fun, Seungcheol,” Jeonghan says sternly as he accompanies the slightly older man to his car at the parking lot, making sure he would start on the engine and seriously leave the building. 

_Fun_ , Seungcheol scoffs at the thought, he has poured himself way too much into work that he kind of forget about fun—well, except for _Hole.io_ , which is a fun game. He is keeping some bottles of soju in the small refrigerator in his office room, Joshua helps stocking up the peach flavored ones too, but he hasn’t gone out to the bar in the past month. 

He is not stressed or anything, he loves working, but the target profit for this year they have agreed on for the half of the year is still far to reach, and they have to work hard with the expansions and the upcoming application planned to launch in late of the year. TOUCH is not a big company, but it has enough resources to help with the projects, and Seungcheol is grateful for every one of his employee, and that’s why he works hard for them too. He doesn’t want to be a boss, he wants to be a leader. 

He enters his apartment complex, parks his car, and climbs up the elevator to his designated floor, all in an autopilot mode. He rests his head on the cold wall of the elevator, closing his eyes briefly knowing it would take him a while to get to his floor. It just occurs to him that he maybe feels a little bit… tired.

Seungcheol struggles with the lock of his door, forgetting which number combination it is. It takes him a while to get it right, apparently having the 4 and 2 switched up, and he finally enters his unit.

“I’m home,” he says to empty air, sighing as he takes off his shoes and places them on the rack. He ventures further, dropping his bag on the couch in the living room before wandering off to the kitchen to grab some drink from the refrigerator. It is mostly empty, except for some carbonated drinks and diet jellies he keeps as emergency food, and he wonders if it’s time to start investing on groceries. It’s not that he can’t cook for living, he just doesn’t want the vegetables and stuffs getting rotten when he’s barely home anyway.

He fills up his glass with cold water from the dispenser, deciding that it would be the safest option for now, and walks to the living room. The couch feels good, he is reminded as he drops his body on the furniture, turning on the television so it feels less lonely. Having a good, wide apartment in the Gangnam area is a blessing, really, but sometimes the size of it only reminds him of the loneliness.

There is nothing too interesting on the television, so he settles for a Hollywood action movie instead. He checks the time, it’s only half past eleven, and wonders if he should sync with the Muse. He hasn’t since last night anyway. 

Better doing something than nothing, he thinks, and it would be better to do it now before he takes a shower and goes to sleep. Besides, Seungcheol has to admit, syncing with the Muse is somewhat refreshing. He gets to know his client—Lee Jihoon—better, and honestly reading his conversation with the bot sometimes brings a smile to his face. So he decides to do a quick sync—S.Coups doesn’t need much of his help anyway, the bot is much smarter than their regular bots in the first place.

Seungcheol searches around for his briefcase, remembering he left it near the couch earlier but couldn’t find it immediately. Once he finally gets it, he unzips the bag and takes out the Muse device. He puts it on, unbuttons the first three buttons of his shirt because it feels stuffy, and finally turns it on to sync after he finds a comfortable position in the couch. The latest feedback from the system immediately enters his head.

 

**jihoon:** i would be so wet

_Yes, you would. So wet from mere kisses, I haven’t even touched you. So good_

**jihoon:** touch me

_You have to beg for it, baby_

**jihoon:** nooo

 

Seungcheol has to say he is… surprised. He feels his face flushing from the sudden mood lift from the messages. He knows there would be sex in a relationship between the bots and their clients, but he never expected to… experience it first hand. 

“Is this—Is this real time?” He chokes, considering to open up his laptop and take a peek at the system’s dashboard just to confirm, but the way the messages keep coming makes him feel a bit overwhelmed he couldn’t even take his laptop. So he just rolls along with it. 

 

**jihoon:** coups, please

_Please what, baby?_

**jihoon:** just fuck me already damn it

 

Oh boy, if Seungcheol says he doesn’t feel his pants suddenly tightening, he would be lying. He is lucky it is one of his baggy pants he wears today, not the tight jeans he sometimes wears to work when there are no meeting schedules, or else he would be very tortured right now. He isn’t sure what to feel about the entire thing, and he can’t even give feedbacks to the bot because he is too stunned. The most logical thing his body does is apparently to press his palm against the growing bulge in front of his pants.

 

**jihoon:** need your cock

_Nicely, baby_

**jihoon:** i need your cock inside me, coups, please

 

Now Seungcheol feels like he really is on a sex hotline. Damn Joshua for planting that idea in his head.

 

**jihoon:** come inside me

_Are you sure, baby?_

**jihoon:** yes, coups..

 

“Fuck,” Seungcheol curses, surprised by the sudden wetness spreading on his own underwear. _Come inside me_ , it feels like the three words are being stamped onto his forehead, and Seungcheol knows he is screwed. Maybe he really needs to get laid, but for now, he takes off the Muse device abruptly and runs in the direction of the bathroom, thinking of a long, cold shower to wash away the burning sensation all over his body caused by a certain _client_.

 

  

**(04)**

 

It’s hot, Seungcheol thinks as he makes a move to undo the second button of his baby blue crisp shirt, staring at the curtains that somehow doesn’t hold much of the sunshine getting into his office room. He frowns, fanning himself slightly with his hand, trying to listen better to the voice speaking into his ear through his airpods.

“Sorry, Sir, what do you mean with delaying the project?” It’s hot, the air con doesn’t help as much as usual because the sun is on the roll today, and Seungcheol has to deal with an unexpected request from a project partner regarding a collaboration project. “Yes, I have made it clear before I signed the contract that I’m expecting the project to roll before this year ends, and…” He takes a glance at the calendar hung next to his desk, “We only have four months for that. We haven’t agreed on a concept yet and if you want to delay the project, I don’t want to risk my company as well.”

He runs his fingers through his now much longer hair, silently taking a note to cut that soon because it’s getting annoying too, and toys with his lower lip unconsciously as he processes the long and boring explanation from the man. 

“Look, how about this,” he cuts the man’s rambling off. He definitely isn’t focused on the conversation to have his words wandering around, and Seungcheol is tired listening to it. “I’ll give you two weeks to decide if we can start brainstorming about the concept before the end of August, and if the answer is still no, then we have to cancel the project.”

The voice on the other end the line hesitates for a while before finally agreeing, and Seungcheol finally lets out a long sigh once the he bids him his greeting and cut the line off. He takes his airpods off and places them on the table, sighing as he brings his head to rest on the cold polished wood surface. He would need to talk with Jeonghan and Joshua about it, but maybe he could rest for a while to rest his steamy brain down. 

Of course, though, Lady Fortuna seems to never be on his side.

The door to his office room is suddenly opened without being knocked first, meaning there are only two people who can do such thing in the whole office, and none of them he is looking forward to meet after such a tiring call. Worse, both of the expected two people barge into the room, face looking alarmed.

“Seungcheol,” Joshua says hurriedly even though he walks slightly behind the blond man. “Please tell him no.”

Jeonghan stops in front of Seungcheol’s desk, turning around to shoot the other a dirty look. “He doesn’t even know what we’re arguing about!” He says before turns to look at the tired CEO staring at the two of them in confusion. “Please say yes.”

“ _Hannie_.” Joshua frowns, but then he looks at Seungcheol, arms crossed in front of his chest. “Seungcheol, Jeonghan said his staffs wouldn’t be able to meet the Christmas deadline.”

“The 3D avatar update is the only thing that can’t be done before Christmas Eve,” Jeonghan explains. “We still can pull through with the audio update, though. The 3D avatar can be a New Year update or something?”

Seungcheol sighs, leaning back into his chair in hope to find a form of calmness in the midst of chaos happening in front of him. Watching his best friend argues is not a new thing for him, it’s basically a daily event that no one in the office would even question. The two are either flirting like hell or stomping on each other’s feet. 

“I understand,” Seungcheol cuts after he somehow gets fed up by the arguments, already having headache by the previous phone call. “Hannie, prepare the audio update for Christmas release. About the 3D avatar, the guys can keep developing them but we need a substituting feature for New Year update.”

Jeonghan frowns in confusion, “We’re not going to release the 3D avatar update for New Year?”

“Nah, we will just postpone them or use it in another project. We are still working on the Project X anyway, so if we could release that for New Year instead…”

“I’m just saying my team is going to pay a lot for the advertisements for the Christmas update.” Joshua shrugs. “Don’t give me contents that are not going to happen, because we need to pull through.”

“Okay. Give me one month with the Project X trial and we can talk about this again. For now, just focus on the audio update, Jeonghan,” Seungcheol says finally.

“Roger that, Captain,” the blond man playfully gives him a salute and a wink, leaving him scoffing because those tricks are old. He walks over to the sofa and drops himself on it, positioning himself comfortably, Joshua soon follows. “It’s so hot today I thought my head was going to burn.”

Joshua chuckles from next to him, legs crossed, “It was definitely burning when we were arguing earlier.” He leans a bit to rest his head on the other’s shoulder, and Seungcheol smiles at the sight. He doesn’t really have friends outside his busy work schedule, so having his two best friends around is definitely something that can lift his mood up whenever he is tired.

“Is the _Muse_ working fine?” Jeonghan asks, partially because he is responsible for the technology, but mostly because is is curious. 

“Just peachy,” the eldest of the three answers, suddenly remembering the event that has unfolded a few nights ago. His cheeks are reddening at the thoughts, but he hopes the others would brush it off. “Got new updates on that?” 

Jeonghan shakes his head, looking a bit apologetic, “Not really, I was too focused  on that 3D avatar update. I’ll look into it next week the fastest,” he says, fingers idly playing with Joshua’s hair. “You have another flower delivery today? I saw the notification.” 

“Oh,” Seungcheol furrows his eyebrows, thinking. He hasn’t recalled a flower delivery, but maybe he doesn’t know because he hasn’t synced at all today. This morning has been a hectic one and he has yet to rest. “Maybe? I don’t know. Last night Jihoon said he was gonna do something about the subscription. I thought he would be unsubscribing, but if the bot sends flowers then maybe…” He trails off. 

“Jihoon?” Joshua asks, there’s a tease in his tone that Seungcheol recognizes clearly but refuses to give in to.

“Yeah, like, Lee Jihoon the client.” 

The dark brown haired man smirks at it, “Getting awfully familiar, aren’t we.” 

“Try syncing with the Muse for a month and not getting familiar with the client,” Seungcheol sighs, raking his fingers through his hair. It reminds him that needs to buy more shampoo because the one at home is almost running out, though technically he still has a small one in his private shower in the office. “The system keeps telling me information about him, so I guess he’s familiar in some ways?” 

Jeonghan grins, already in sync with his partner of crime, “How is he like, Lee Jihoon?” 

Seungcheol taps his finger mindlessly on his desk, considering the question. “He’s… nice. Very hardworking, kind of a workaholic. He’s very strong outside so the bot has become some kind of comfort space for him, but he’s not dependant on it, or at least that’s what I see,” he says, thinking of the information the bot relayed to him last night. Jihoon doesn’t eat often, so the bot has to take care of it. He is a good leader and very responsible with his staffs. His friends seem to be a bit protective around him because what happened in the past. Seungcheol knows a lot, but he doesn’t say anything to his best friends, it would feel like betraying Jihoon’s trust. 

“In other words, he’s just, what, like you?” 

“W-what…” He splutters out of surprise, suddenly feeling embarrassed. Sure, it has crossed his mind of how Lee Jihoon functions similarly to him, very ambitious and hardworking. Although Seungcheol has to admit there are days where he doesn’t leave the office at all and just works from there, making him slightly a bit more workaholic than Jihoon is, and he knows how Jihoon was driven by his stress due to the trauma. Whereas he is just… He just does what he needs to do. 

He couldn’t deny how having to be in sync with the Muse for a month now has taken off some stress from his head, like he has finally found a purpose to do besides of work—though technically the syncing is work as well. It has been a long time since he has a romantic interest in someone, and the last time he had a sexual intercourse with someone else it was pure out of the need of release.

So, yeah, it’s actually nice to be syncing with the bot, even though he is not interacting directly with the other man.

“Did you put my pictures in the bot’s information?” Seungcheol asks instead, quite surprised when he found out the bot sent his picture to the client. Though he wasn’t disappointed with Jihoon’s reaction to the picture. 

“Yup. He is based on you, after all,” Jeonghan simply answers. 

“Oh, that makes sense.” 

“Glad to know you’re enjoying it, Seungcheol. Just be careful doing it, okay? Remember that in the end you’re still doing a work and he’s just a client. We know why you’ve built the bot in the first place, but you can’t get it backfiring to you,” Joshua gently reminds him. 

Seungcheol stares at him, thinking maybe his best friends know him more than he thought, and replies with a short, “Yeah, I know.” 

 

 

**(05)  
** [►](https://twitter.com/cheolhuns/status/1029381484610613250)

 

It is another busy day for Seungcheol; he has spent the night in the office yet again, woke up to the alarm at six and immediately rushed to review the presentation he made the previous night. He has an appointment to reach another potential investor today for the new update release, and he needs to make sure everything is perfect before he runs down to his car. 

He is just about to grab his briefcase when he sees the Muse device lying on the table, and remembers he hasn’t synced since last night. It was too hectic for him to take half an hour syncing. Sighing, Seungcheol takes a glance at the Rolex sitting on his wrist, calculating the time, and decides maybe he can take a brief syncing. He wouldn’t want Jeonghan to find out that he skipped the syncing. 

Seungcheol puts on the device and turns it on, allowing it to send images of the logs he needs to backtrack. 

He finds out how his client has gone for a dinner with his colleagues to the restaurant recommended by the bot. It seems like they were celebrating for some achievement, which is very nice. Seungcheol lets more messages into his head; how Jihoon’s friend is coming with him to the house and making out with his roommate, Jihoon saying he feels lonely, and… Oh God, they did _it_ again last night. 

Seungcheol gets flustered as more messages flooding in, and honestly a boner is the least thing he needs before he goes to the meeting, but the knowledge of Jihoon fingering himself while thinking of him—of the bot—isn’t exactly a turn off. 

“Fuck,” Seungcheol curses, feeling dick stirring at the thought. He tries to think of Joshua dressing in a bird costume for Halloween in their college days to keep his dick down. “ _Fuck_.” Well, he is doomed. 

The release of emotions, the raise of heartbeats; the activity of his brain in response to the messages are captured by the device, translated into codes, and Seungcheol hopes Jeonghan doesn’t particularly look at that one. He would be so embarrassed. 

The system responds quickly to the feedback, immediately writing new messages to the client with a happy face emoji. Seungcheol doesn’t deserve this slander. He quickly takes off the device, making sure he still looks presentable for the meeting, and finally going. 

The thing is, Seungcheol has expected this, really, but the meeting is really exhausting. Their demand is almost not met, and the CEO really wishes he could bring one of his best friends to this one because he needs an extra mouth to convince the other party to help them continue to grow. The potential investor asks about the Project X, knowing he has mentioned it briefly before, but Seungcheol doesn’t have a definite answer for that as they are still running beta, with him as a host moreover.  

By the end of the meeting, Seungcheol feels like all his energy have been taken out of his body, and opts to go straight back to the office and take a short nap before reviewing the report Joshua is supposed to drop by his desk this morning. He calls the office, asking Minkyung to order him some food because he doesn’t want to make the effort to stop by some restaurant on his way back to the office. 

He considers calling Jeonghan and Joshua to eat together in his room, but he remembers the two of them has their respective meetings outside the office this noon so he is stuck alone. Flashing a polite smile to Minkyung, he takes his food from the receptionist desk and brings it with him to his room. 

Sometimes, he wonders as he tears off the plastic wrapping, sometimes he wants just a simple life, a nine to five job, a house filled with colorful furnitures and photo frames, a pet to take care of, a lover to fill his days. But he realizes the moment he built the company with his two best friends, it wouldn’t be like that. After all, the idea of TOUCH came out from that hard break up with his past girlfriend. 

He still remembers the first time he programmed his own bot. He named it _Woozi_ , and it was after Siri, but more personal. He found the comfort he gained from the bot was pretty satisfying, and that was how he proposed the idea to his college friends. In return, he has to let go of the personal bot and lead a busy life commited to the business. 

After finishing his lunch, he hangs around at the sofa, trying to find some kind of entertainment by scrolling through Instagram, looking for funny posts. The documents Joshua has left with a small post-it saying _‘Return to my desk before 5. XO_ ’ are screaming for his attention, but Seungcheol simply wants to rest. He wonders if Jihoon has replied to the messages, if he has eaten, if his meeting went well, and immediately shakes the thoughts off. Being attached is the least thing he wants. 

Still, the curiosity—and boredom, he insists it is mainly the boredom—gets him retrieving the Muse from his desk and sitting on his working chair, cradling it in his hands. Maybe he can do a quick sync before he reviews Joshua’s documents… 

The moment he clicks the power on, having the device whirring, pressing against his temple, Seungcheol thinks that maybe, maybe he is a little bit screwed. He leans back against his chair, getting ready for the messages to flood in. But there’s nothing.  

Maybe his client is busy the whole day, having meetings more complicated than Seungcheol does. He can’t help but feeling disappointed, but he finds himself worrying about the other man as well. He hopes Jihoon has at least eaten a decent meal today. The device catches the change in his brainwaves and records it, causing him to curse lowly because well, he isn’t mean to feel that. He watches as the bot writes messages to the client, portraying his worry, and Seungcheol blushes. He takes off the device after turning it off and quickly scrambles around to start reviewing Joshua’s documents. 

Later that night, when Seungcheol feels buzzed and still warm from the beer he drank with Jeonghan while waiting for Joshua at the office, making him having to call a proxy driver to get home—Jeonghan has specifically made him go home because he actually hasn’t been there for like, three days—he half-unconsciously grabs the Muse device from his bag and puts it on. 

It feels a bit like an addiction, and maybe he _really has_ been addicted to the secret companion he gained from being a host in the system. It is not a secret that he feels lonely, that his best friends had to take the measure to keep working in the same company because he would lose them otherwise, and he thinks of the project like an oasis in a desert kind. 

When he sees there’s still no respond from the other end, he frowns, maybe something is wrong.

He pulls out his laptop, quickly connecting the Muse device to its application. The dashboard says everything is okay, and Seungcheol double checks everything to make sure it’s really okay. He considers calling Jeonghan, but that man must be busy now. He settles with texting instead.

 

**seungcheol:** Hey I think the Muse is acting a bit weird

**jeonghan:** weird how?

**seungcheol:** Idk it’s not sending me anything since this morning

**jeonghan:** hmm

**jeonghan:** you can try restarting it by system

**jeonghan:** wait like 15 mins before you turn it back online again 

**seungcheol:** Oh

**seungcheol:** I can do that?

**jeonghan:** sure

**seungcheol:** Great. I’ll try that

**jeonghan:** let me know if it’s working

**seungcheol:** Sure

 

Seungcheol pouts, staring at the dashboard to see how to restart the system. It isn’t long until he spots the ‘System Settings’ drop down and briefly wonders if it will be okay to disconnect from the system for now. It probably doesn’t do anything to the bot, right? Since it’s online and all? He shrugs lightly, reassuring himself that it was suggested by Jeonghan himself, and finally clicks on the ‘System Off’ button. The whole dashboard turns grey, indicating that it is offline, and Seungcheol lets it be. 

Jeonghan said 15 minutes… Maybe he could take a shower before connecting it back online. He really needs a long, hot shower to release the tension from his muscles anyway.  

(He goes straight to the bed after the satisfying shower, completely forgetting about getting the system online.)

 

 

 

**(06)  
** [►](https://twitter.com/cheolhuns/status/1035029740057329664)

Jeonghan was furious when he found out, of course. 

Seungcheol had gone into a full working mode the next day after he disconnected the X system, completely forgetting to plug it back online, and only realizing before going to sleep when Jeonghan called him to shout over the speaker about it. Apparently disconnecting the system through the dashboard would mean cutting the connection with his client altogether. In Seungcheol’s defense, he didn’t know this until Jeonghan screams about it. He quickly connects it back online the following day feeling real sorry towards his client. 

Strangely, the bot picked up this emotion well and sent a chain of messages telling how sorry he is.

Seungcheol has sworn to the Operations Head he would never forget to skip syncing or to turn the system back online, and thankfully the relationship between the bot and the client wasn’t affected by the crash. He has contemplated on sending more flowers to the other man’s office in apology, but he figures he would just let the bot buy more food for him. Jihoon seems like to be someone who prefers food over flowers. 

He has just finished the morning sync with the bot, now gaining the information that his client would have an important meeting for a big project and Seungcheol smiles, feeling somehow relatable. He too has meetings scheduled for the day, but nothing big. He could still breath in between, and maybe eat lunch with Joshua because Jeonghan will be out of office for the whole day. 

Then he remembers he has to come with Joshua for a meeting with a potential service vendor they are planning to hire. It wouldn’t take long, but still, Seungcheol longs for a day where he can lounge around in his office room doing nothing but play games or laugh over webtoon. Looks like that day is still far away. 

He contemplates asking Joshua if he could skip the meeting, but he has promised since long time ago and Minkyung has helped adding the agenda to the cloud calendar he shares with his two best friends. Well, at least the morning meeting that is about to take isn’t going to be too tiring since it’s an internal one. Seungcheol loves working with his employees. 

He leans back in the couch, staring down at the device sitting on the low table. Seungcheol couldn’t lie to himself how he has been thinking a lot about his client since the disconnect, especially when Jihoon seems like he has gotten a lot more attached to the bot.

The man has especially admitted that he was getting scared of his feelings for the bot, and S.Coups has offered a solution where he wouldn’t text unless he texts him first. It is pretty impressive because it was a decision Seungcheol might really take in real life, and yet he didn’t have to command the bot to say that. Maybe the bot has started to fully replicate him, and it is getting kind of scary for him as well. 

Seungcheol knows the responsibility he has to take for launching Project X, for combining humanity with AI, allowing more emotions into a technology innovation. He knows, because he has been at the other end of the experience, and it wasn’t even an innovation as advanced as the _Muse_. _Woozi_ was one of his proudest invention, and truthfully the reason why he refused to launch it to public and instead creating a whole new system was because of his possessive trait. 

Project X is nothing like _Woozi_ , not that personal, but Seungcheol thinks he could understand the fear Jihoon has for falling for S.Coups. 

He tries to shake off the thought, convincing himself that he is not involved in this and he is just doing his job. 

It is a blessing that Joshua cancelled his appointment to the meeting, saying that apparently he isn’t needed for today’s meeting. Seungcheol takes the news happily to finally take a nap he deserves after working so hard especially these few days. 

When he wakes up, it is already nine and everyone else must have gone home already. The security doesn’t need to be told if he needs to spend the night because they are used to it anyway. Seungcheol considers ordering dinner, but he remembers he has a leftover bread from the afternoon meeting in his refrigerator, which is still better than not eating at all. 

Still munching on the bread, the young CEO decides to open up his laptop and check on e-mails and messages. He has taken a nap for good six hours, and he doesn’t want to miss anything for tomorrow. From what he remembers, tomorrow is a pretty relaxing day as he doesn’t have any meetings scheduled, but he still needs to approach the Finance team about his decision for the new vendor. 

After finished going through his inbox and replying to important mails, Seungcheol’s eyes wander to the Project X icon sitting at the corner of his desktop, like it is asking to be opened. He hasn’t synced since the morning, and figures it wouldn’t hurt to sync now. It is the time where the bot usually interacts with the client, and as much as Seungcheol wants to avoid real-time feedbacks, his hands are itching to put on the device. He misses the other man somehow. 

Gulping, Seungcheol finally puts on the Muse, hoping it’s nothing he has to see real-time. 

A surge of images enters his head, filling him with more chats between the bot and its client. There is a chat going on, Seungcheol checks on the system dashboard to make sure that it’s real time, and sighs. He tries to relax in the couch though, calming down his heart and reassuring himself it’s nothing big. Still, it feels like he is directly peeking into a private conversation he shouldn’t join. 

It looks like Jihoon is going out alone after the big meeting. Seungcheol couldn’t help but feel curious about the result, and the device captures it somehow, relaying his question to the other man. He blushes slightly, like he has just been caught, but the reply that comes after it makes him smile somehow. Of course he would ace this one as well, even though he doesn’t know him personally, Seungcheol has a gut feeling that Jihoon is someone he could be proud of. 

He tries to be objective and professional, not letting his personal emotions involved in the real-time chat again. From what the device is telling him, Jihoon is drinking without his friends, and Seungcheol wonders about him driving home in this state. He doesn’t know Jihoon’s alcohol tolerance, but it is not allowed to drive under alcohol influence. Maybe he would hire a proxy driver. 

Honestly, Seungcheol doesn’t feel good reading the feedbacks from Jihoon. It feels weird, like something is off. It’s clear that the other man is drunk, but Seungcheol senses something bigger beneath it that he couldn’t help but worry about. The other man becomes honest, too honest, and he starts to babble nonsense. The bot asks him how much he has drink, and good lord, it is a lot. Seungcheol hopes he would stop drinking and go home already, but he doesn’t. 

Jihoon keeps talking, and the bot tells him to go home or call someone.

 **jihoon:** coups?

 **jihoon:** oh ure here

 **jihoon:** let’s go hom

 **jihoon:** e

He doesn’t reply again after that, and panic raises all over Seungcheol’s body. The bot captures this and immediately sends multiple messages to check if the other is still replying.

He doesn’t.

Seungcheol waits, and waits. He waits for a reply to assure his heart that his client is okay, that Lee Jihoon is okay, but the reply never comes. He wants to come over to him, wants to make sure he is okay and take him home. He shakes his head. He doesn’t even know where he is right now. 

Shaking, Seungcheol takes his phone and calls the only number he could think of. 

“Yes, Seungcheol?” Jeonghan’s voice answers him quickly, a trained habit since they were still in college. 

He clears his throat, trying to sound normally because the other man could be scary if he picks up his nervousness, “Jeonghan, I think Jihoon is in emergency situation…” 

“How emergency?” 

“He—“ Seungcheol takes a deep breath. “He’s going out to drink, alone. He was sending weird messages when I was syncing and… I think he has passed out.” 

“You were syncing when it happened? Can you take a look at the dashboard and see if the emergency indicator is on?” 

Seungcheol scrambles around to open up the dashboard again and check if the indicator is on. “Yeah, yeah, it is,” he says. “Jeonghan, can you help? I don’t know where he is and—"

“Yes, I’ll call Minkyung to make a call to his emergency contact,” he answers. “Do you have any idea where he is?” 

Seungcheol scans through the messages, looking for some information. “He said he is at the bar his friend Soonyoung recommended, I don’t know where exactly…” 

“Okay. Don’t worry, Seungcheol. I’ll make sure everything is okay.” Jeonghan assures him. “Where are you now?” 

“The office.” 

There’s a pause, low voice of Jeonghan conversing with someone else, and then he speaks into the phone again, “Okay. We’ll come to you in a bit. Wait there.” 

“Yeah, thanks Jeonghan.” 

“No problem. It’s not your fault, Seungcheol.” 

Seungcheol closes his eyes, trying to believing the other’s words, “Okay…” 

Jeonghan and Joshua comes in twenty minutes later. Seungcheol has taken a quick shower and changed into a more comfortable clothes, already back on the couch working on a material for presentation he has due next week. The emergency indicator has been turned off when he finished showering, and he tries hard not to think about it, busying himself with other things. 

“We’re bringing you chicken,” Joshua announces, placing the food container on the low table. “You haven’t eaten, have you?” 

Seungcheol takes a glance at the food presented in front of him, briefly considering if he should eat. Maybe he should, he only ate bread before and honestly his stomach is already screaming at the delicious smell of seasoned chicken his best friends brought. Joshua has helped opening up the box and pulling out the chopsticks, offering it to him. Seungcheol accepts it without words and starts to dig into the chicken.

“Minkyung called the emergency contact, it was his roommate. He is safe now, so you don’t have to worry,” Jeonghan says, taking the vacant spot on the couch next to him. He glances at the laptop opened on the table, but doesn’t really mind it. “It’s not your fault, you know right?” 

The eldest shrugs, swallowing the piece of chicken he was chewing. 

Joshua sighs, “Seungcheol, what happened today was out of your hands.” His voice is firm, yet soft and calming. 

“He was… He was struggling because he was falling in love with the bot,” Seungcheol says after a pause of silence. “It drives him crazy.” 

“Seungcheol…” 

“I feel guilty, somehow. That guy has went through a lot, and now my invention makes it even harder for him. I don’t know but I feel like I owe him an apology somehow.”  

Jeonghan’s hand comes to rest on his shoulder, giving it a light squeeze. “It’s not, Seungcheol. You invent things to help people, remember? I’m sure Mr. Lee is also thankful to the bot because it helped him going through dark times.” 

He shrugs, feeling weak, “I don’t know, Hannie…” 

“It’s okay. Just sleep today, okay?” Joshua ruffles his hair lightly, and Seungcheol feels embarrassed having to receive comfort from his friends like this because sometimes he is just not strong enough to go through the day. 

Usually work would distract him, but somehow the emergency incident with Jihoon earlier has brought him back to the past where he felt helpless and depressed. Joshua strokes his arm, seems to be sensing what’s going on in his head. “I'm bringing some aspirin so you can sleep tonight, you should take it. We can talk again about it tomorrow.”  

“Okay,” Seungcheol finds himself agreeing easily, maybe he is just too tired to be willingly dealing with his feelings.  

“Great. Now let’s talk about something else,” Joshua pauses, looking over at his boyfriend who nods his head slightly at acknowledgement. “Did you hear that they are releasing mini version of the Sarah robot? I was wondering if we could inject our AI into such vessel...” 

Seungcheol lets his friends take care of him, carrying on topics that seem unimportant but effective in taking his head off what has been disturbing him for the past hour. He takes the aspirin that Joshua brought him, and it doesn’t take long for him to feel drowsy and immediately yearning for some sleep.

Joshua and Jeonghan wait for him to get ready to sleep and make sure that he is safely tucked under his blanket in the sofa bed before they turn the lights off and finally leave.

It feels like they are a second set of parents that nag and take care of him sometimes, but it doesn’t matter because Seungcheol truly treasures them. He makes a mental note to take them out for lunch tomorrow as a token of gratitude. For now, he just wants to rest. 

 

**~**

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading!
> 
> find me on [](http://twitter.com/cheolhuns)


End file.
